1. Churches' secret talks to stop gay surge

Comment #205605 by Szkeptik on July 7, 2008 at 1:57 pm

Oh, yes. Trying to get more conservative and barring as many people from partcipating as possible is going to help a lot with those dwindling numbers.

"Now that the Anglicans plan to allow women bishops, there is a fear that clergy will defect to the Vatican and Rome"

From one sinking ship to the other.

2. Aliens need Christ's redemption, too

Comment #201468 by Szkeptik on June 29, 2008 at 5:39 pm

The article is a waste of time trying to answer totally unimportant questions with laughable conclusions.

3. Saudi Marriage Officiant : 'It Is Allowed To Marry A Girl At The Age Of One'.

Comment #198685 by Szkeptik on June 24, 2008 at 11:14 am

Ahh, what did you expect?

4. Sarcasm Seen as Evolutionary Survival Skill

Comment #198157 by Szkeptik on June 23, 2008 at 9:37 am

Ok, I didn't get anything of this.

Why does a guy running from a lion want to know if they're having fun?

5. Award-winning comedian George Carlin dies

Comment #197935 by Szkeptik on June 23, 2008 at 12:55 am

Sudden, but not completely unexpected. I've seen him in recent interviews and he looked way older than he actually was. I thought there wasn't much left for him.

Well, he was indeed a great comedian. I spent nights watching his shows sometimes nearly dying of laughter. He will be missed.

6. Where do US lawmakers stand on science?

Comment #197485 by Szkeptik on June 22, 2008 at 8:39 am

Aside from the badly hidden political endorsement of Obama, the idea sounds good.

7. Christianity 'could die out within a century'

Comment #197391 by Szkeptik on June 22, 2008 at 12:39 am

As a matter of fact I think that the degrading numbers are pushing adherents towards the extreme. Although almost every form of religion is dying in Britain, the most fundamentalist type of christianity is on the rise.

8. Pastors Challenge Law, Endorse Candidates From Pulpit

Comment #196734 by Szkeptik on June 20, 2008 at 11:38 am

It's obvious they would lose in a federal court. This is not about free speech. They will not be fined or jailed, they will not be penalised in any way. They will simply lose a privilege because they broke the law.

9. Teen's death blamed on faith healing

Comment #196468 by Szkeptik on June 20, 2008 at 2:39 am

"...natural selection in action..."

Exactly what I was thinking. It's a good thing to have evolution selecting out these nutjobs. If they avoid all medical help, then more than 35% of their children should die before adulthood.

10. The Mother, The Child, The School Board And The Psychic

Comment #196091 by Szkeptik on June 19, 2008 at 9:34 am

All people who were connected to this case and have taken the word of this psychic as evidence must be sterilised immediately. They cannot be allowed to procreate.

11. Darwinists for Jesus

Comment #195893 by Szkeptik on June 19, 2008 at 2:03 am

Looks like Ken Ham is right for probably the first time in his life.

12. Is the Universe Actually Made of Math?

Comment #195594 by Szkeptik on June 18, 2008 at 3:11 pm

We sure came a long way from the geocentric worldview.

13. Charles Darwin: 'Is man an ape or an angel?'

Comment #195580 by Szkeptik on June 18, 2008 at 2:38 pm

Am I the only one who is exceptionally impressed that this article is in the Telegraph?

14. We Urgently Need Your Help Now!!

Comment #195579 by Szkeptik on June 18, 2008 at 2:28 pm

I wrote this message. I'm Hungarian so I don't know if my opinion would count to s*it, but it's worth a try.

"Dear Governor Jindal,

Please veto SB 733.

I write to you as a student from the other side of the world with no legal or political ties to the United States. I know my stance doesn't count, but I feel that as a human being it is my duty to ask you to veto SB 733. This bill is an attack on the children of Louisiana. It is a covert attempt to deprive them of their right for quality science education. Your country has been the leading force in scientific advancement in recent history. Please don't become the person who starts its downfall. If you sign this bill it will set a horrible precedent for other states. Don't be the one to start this. Please veto SB 733."

15. Darwinmania!

Comment #195297 by Szkeptik on June 18, 2008 at 3:07 am

So it begins...

16. Kenneth Miller on Colbert Report

Comment #195037 by Szkeptik on June 17, 2008 at 3:24 pm

Well, Miller couldn't get too many points across. Colbert kept interrupting with one liners and jokes and that was very annoying. Well, guess it's primarily a comedy so they have to keep the humor flowing.

Ken seems to be more active recently. There was the radio interview with him just a few days ago and now this. Is he out advertising his book or something?

17. As the world becomes smaller, the need to understand each other's faith grows

Comment #192863 by Szkeptik on June 14, 2008 at 4:58 am

Looks like Blair didn't have enough of useless wars in his presidency.

18. Unlike Others, U.S. Defends Freedom to Offend in Speech

Comment #192378 by Szkeptik on June 12, 2008 at 11:10 pm

"But even Mr. Lewis, a liberal, wrote in his book that he was inclined to relax some of the most stringent First Amendment protections "in an age when words have inspired acts of mass murder and terrorism." In particular, he called for a re-examination of the Supreme Court's insistence that there is only one justification for making incitement a criminal offense: the likelihood of imminent violence."

This is basically giving up and handing victory to the terrorists.

19. Trailer for Religulous

Comment #190674 by Szkeptik on June 9, 2008 at 11:12 am

Maher isn't against modern medicine. He's against the tens of thousands of marketed medications that are made by companies for income alone and the illnesses they are made to cure are often just made up.

20. Logical Proof of the Existence of a Divine Creator, Why Atheism is Not Logically Sound

Comment #190668 by Szkeptik on June 9, 2008 at 11:01 am

I knew this would suck after reading the first half of the title.

"Logical Proof of the Existence of a Divine Creator..."

A Canada Free Press article by random guy proves what thousands of great philosofers couldn't for countless millennia.

21. John McCain: America a Christian nation, needs Christian president

Comment #190217 by Szkeptik on June 8, 2008 at 2:43 pm

What's the big deal about this?

Everyone has to bitch around for the presidency. Many people want to hear crap like this, so they will get it. I bet Obama or Hillary don't give two shits about religion, and for the republicans it's a main political point, but I guess a fair share of them don't care eighter. This is just a hollow show off from McCain to get some fundie votes.

22. Opponents of Evolution Adopting a New Strategy

Comment #188713 by Szkeptik on June 4, 2008 at 12:08 pm

"...a state-appointed committee of science educators has already begun to review the curriculum requirements. Although the state education board is free to set aside or modify their proposals, committee members will recommend that the "strengths and weaknesses" phrase be removed..."

How come school boards consisting mainly of lay people and parents have a right to completely change or ignore a curriculum that is proposed by professionals of the relevant fields? This is an awfully inefficient way to maintain good science stabdards. Why is it this way in the USA?

23. A New Step In Evolution

Comment #188099 by Szkeptik on June 3, 2008 at 8:17 am

But it didn't turn into a bird so it's not evidence for evolution.

The ignorant and stupid have spoken.

24. Scientists rally against creationist 'superstition'

Comment #186964 by Szkeptik on June 1, 2008 at 1:26 am

40% Is something that I can't accept. There were next to no reports on any creo activity in britain just a few years ago. Don't tell me that almost half of the population was swayed by this crap in less then a decade.

25. Teacher tortures, kills boy

Comment #186743 by Szkeptik on May 31, 2008 at 8:39 am

You know what? The only thing that surprises me is that they are actually going to punish the teacher. Seriously. The only thing that's unusual is that the teacher might get punished for it.
Imagine if it was a little girl beaten to death noone would even care around there. I'm pretty sure that if it was a girl they wouldn't even had reported it.

26. Mark Steyn vs. the 'Sock Puppets'

Comment #185674 by Szkeptik on May 28, 2008 at 9:40 am

This is troubling indeed. And this is not the first time these terrorists managed to stifle people by using human rights legislature. Something even bigger happened in the UN human rights council in march. And a lot of smaller attcks like this. This is all very troubling.

27. That's it. Texas really is doomed.

Comment #184957 by Szkeptik on May 26, 2008 at 2:29 pm

FightingFalcon
"I have said on this board many times (and will continue to say) that I firmly believe we will see a tremendous turn around in America once President Bush leaves office. Especially if a Democrat wins the presidency, as they are already poised to pick up many seats in Congress as well."

I wish I could be as confident as you are, but with all the lip service to religion going on I doubt that even a democrat president would want to tackle these issues too much. I think whoever wins will rather stay away from this.

28. Huge hidden biomass lives deep beneath the oceans

Comment #184334 by Szkeptik on May 24, 2008 at 4:49 pm

"Prokaryotes are organisms that often have just one cell."

Often? Could someone give me a single example on multicellular procariotes?

29. Sun's properties not 'fine-tuned' for life

Comment #183571 by Szkeptik on May 22, 2008 at 9:44 am

I didn't know this was such a big question. No matter what type the star is, there will always be a habitable zone somewhere. When our Sun becomes a red giant the habitable zone will be at the orbit of Neptune, but nonetheless it will exist.

30. Lab agrees to test Shroud of Turin for new theory

Comment #183380 by Szkeptik on May 22, 2008 at 2:26 am

I hope they get their 2000 year date and creos will have to stop using the dating doesn't work argument.

31. In God's Name

Comment #182762 by Szkeptik on May 21, 2008 at 12:30 am

Is this something new, or they just didn't pay attention to them before?

32. 16% of US science teachers are creationists

Comment #182745 by Szkeptik on May 20, 2008 at 11:29 pm

I actually thought it would be higher. Not like this figure makes me satisfied, but that at least means that not all science teachers in the Bible Belt are creos.

33. Geeks and Guinness: the formula for sexy science

Comment #182389 by Szkeptik on May 19, 2008 at 11:23 pm

De Grey doesn't know what he's talking about. He has huge dreams but no science to back it up.

Many other people and research groops are doing real work in the field of aging and how to slow it, but what De Gray is talking about is not scientific, at least yet.

34. The Stupidity of Dignity

Comment #179058 by Szkeptik on May 12, 2008 at 1:11 pm

I would like to direct GW Bush to this article, but on second thought he would probably be unable to read the whole thing anyway.

35. On Fitna, the Movie

Comment #178623 by Szkeptik on May 11, 2008 at 7:02 pm

"you even have the UN Human Rights Council agreeing that freedom of expression needs to be limited if someone 'abuses' religion"

This actually happened? What the holy f*ck is goibg on here. It is damn frightening if a shitty death cult like Islam could achieve this.

36. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #178463 by Szkeptik on May 11, 2008 at 1:08 pm

"I can't understand how people want to be tolerant to such a religion... it's like asking for tolerance towards pedophiles."

I could much sooner imagine myself tolerating pedofiles than tolerating these disgusting animals.


Boy I'm sure f*cking happy I wasn't born into that piece of shit region. Why the hell do we even bother? Let's get the hell outa there and let them slaughter eachother. There might be some collateral damage but it will still be worth it to get rid of diseases like this "culture".

37. British Airways takes beef off the menu to avoid offending Hindus

Comment #178078 by Szkeptik on May 10, 2008 at 12:48 pm

"That said, Hindus are tolerant of the beliefs of others and do not expect everyone to stop eating a food because they do not eat it."

How kind of them...

38. Faith in Britain today

Comment #177055 by Szkeptik on May 8, 2008 at 1:59 pm

"The BBC cuts through the waffle to neatly summarize this as "'Respect atheists', says Cardinal": "

LOL looks like the BBC editors thought it a bit too long to read too.

All in all it's a standard non-message that we could expect from the cardinal.
Of course it's packed full of ignorant, bigoted and snub thoughts, but that's of course natural.

39. Citing Faith, Bush Defends War Actions

Comment #176929 by Szkeptik on May 8, 2008 at 11:00 am

"has pledged to veto any legislation that would reinstitute the so-called "fairness doctrine," "

The single thing on which I happen to agree with him.

40. Dumb and Dumber: A discussion between Ben Stein and Glenn Beck

Comment #175504 by Szkeptik on May 5, 2008 at 2:14 pm

I'm not sure I want to watch this.

I mean what useful information could I possibly gain from it? Watching this would only take the time from more information dense activities. Like taking a crap or something.

41. Evolution's Critics Shift Tactics With Schools

Comment #175100 by Szkeptik on May 4, 2008 at 11:59 am

Someone give me some good news PLEASE!!!

42. Truly Bizarre : Indians Throw Babies 50ft From Roof To Thank God.

Comment #174734 by Szkeptik on May 3, 2008 at 11:32 am

The news on the first child that missed the sheet isn't far away. The parents will probably be standing close enough to hear the bones cracking.

43. Museums teach society lacking in science literacy

Comment #172697 by Szkeptik on April 29, 2008 at 11:29 pm

After all the creationist bullcrap it's very refreshing to read something like this.

44. Girl, 17, killed in Iraq for loving a British soldier

Comment #172054 by Szkeptik on April 29, 2008 at 7:27 am

Posted by bugaboo
"Of course, but information these days travels in the blink of an eye. We have to use this to educate and, as you suggest, as a matter of urgency."

It does travel faster, but people sure don't change their minds faster. Also I think that the effect of the western media will be much more damaging to cultural aspects of life then religious ones. Ultimately it seems much more probable that the fall of their culture will take their religion down with itself instead of the other way around.

45. Girl, 17, killed in Iraq for loving a British soldier

Comment #172003 by Szkeptik on April 29, 2008 at 5:51 am

Posted by bugaboo
"Dont see why not. its been happening in Europe and beyond since the enlightenment. What is it that we are trying to achieve?"

The enlightenment didn't happen in the blink of an eye. It took centuries to redefine the role of religion. And in the age of WMDs we don't have that kind of time. The change needs to happen as soon as possible. If we wait for somekind of enlightenment to happen we will have to deal with many more wars in the region. Cultural assimilation might be a radical move, but it seems to be the fastest way to achieve favorable results.

Posted by bugaboo
"No. what we have is a lot of human beings poisoned by religion"

I agree with this, but that doesn't change the fact that this poison turns them into barbarians. I wish I could share your optimism in healing this illness, but from where I'm looking at it there's not much to be optimistic about.

46. Girl, 17, killed in Iraq for loving a British soldier

Comment #171968 by Szkeptik on April 29, 2008 at 3:42 am

Posted by [B]bugaboo[/B]
"I find this deeply disturbing. Destroy their religion fine but culture? i live in the uk and love the many of aspects of culture that other people bring here when they arrive: food, art, music etc (yeah even maybe McFood). But when it comes to religion thats a different matter."

You can try to peal their religion off the culture, but I doubt you would succeed.
Besides, the real arabic culture is longsince dead. Islam killed real arabic culture. What we have now in most of the middle east is a lot of barbarians hiding behind the ruins of a once great civilisation.

47. Girl, 17, killed in Iraq for loving a British soldier

Comment #171876 by Szkeptik on April 29, 2008 at 1:05 am

The long term solution is quite simple. All we have to do is destroy their culture and replace it with our own.

This war will not be won by guns. It will be won by Burger Kings, Cola, Alcohol and hip-hop. We will flood them with our more liberal culture and the young people with raging hormones will bite. Open those discos and bars! Their centuries old traditions will die away with a single generation. This is the solution. Don't destroy them. Assimilate them!

48. Gunk in T. Rex Fossil Confirms Dino-Bird Lineage

Comment #169383 by Szkeptik on April 25, 2008 at 11:56 pm

The protein was a collagen fragment that was aquired from the bone. Not a soft tissue.

49. Mecca should become core to measure time zones: scholars

Comment #165258 by Szkeptik on April 21, 2008 at 9:12 am

"In a clear support for the call, Islamic scholar Yousuf al-Qaradawi said Islam, "unlike other religions, never contradicted science"."

Yousuf al-Qaradawi is eighter an ignorant fool or a liar or both.

"They also called the Arab governments to abandon the new world maps "because they are forged to serve Western interests." "

Obvious nonsense.

"She hoped that an Islamic country would adopt the project to strengthen the belief that Mecca was the core of the world, not theoretically but practically."

Clearly does not know what "core" means or what the shape of the Earth is.

Stupidity has trumped reason yet again. Well, what do you expect from the part of the world where nothing beneficial has come in over 1000 years?

50. Anti-gay Okla. lawmaker attracts 1,000 backers

Comment #154553 by Szkeptik on April 3, 2008 at 12:35 pm

"Studies show no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than a few decades,"

Umm... ancient Rome?